Actually, Claudia Röder could lead a tranquil life. She lives in a neat house in the Hessian Jossgrund, an idyllic region in the Spessart. Her husband is popular and influential far beyond the small town. Luxury is omnipresent in Claudia's life. But she feels trapped in her gilded cage, for her husband is a nasty choleric who not only regularly beats her, but also rapes her. When Claudia seeks help from a psychologist in Frankfurt, he gives her some unusual advice: she should take up running training and take part in the Frankfurt Marathon. The physical work towards this very specific goal would bring her closer to solving her problems. However, this doesn't seem to be the case at first when she meets her running coach Tim and a very special friendship develops between the two of them. For her husband is the training a thorn in the eye, which he tries to pull again very violently. But this is for Claudia only more incentive to continue to train.
"Der stille Schrei" is the first of three planned Spessart thrillers, the Hessian management consultant and psychologist Dr. Hans-Jürgen Breuer under the pseudonym Leon Specht published. He spices up the struggle of a tormented wife to free herself from her role as victim with a lot of local colour, whereby not only Burgjoss and Bad Orb, but also Frankfurt play a leading role. It is obvious that the author is familiar with the region he describes and that he likes it very much. For it is precisely the local color that makes this book very entertaining. His psychological expertise also has a positive effect on the story, which otherwise has a few minor dramaturgical weaknesses.
These could, however, be due to the narrative perspective. Since the story is written from Claudia's perspective, apart from a rather unnecessary prologue, it is all too understandable that some emotional developments of other characters, such as her best friend or her trainer Tim, fall a bit short and then, when presented as fact, don't always seem entirely comprehensible to the reader. What they are about, of course, should not be revealed at this point. But if you get the impression of a certain superficiality at some points while reading, you should definitely remember from whose point of view the story is written. This will put some possible criticism back into perspective.
A few small stylistic weaknesses do make themselves felt here and there, however. For example, no one whose life is determined by constant shopping trips would speak of constantly spending time in "temples of consumption". And also expressions like "stared rigidly in front of her" should be avoided if possible. Nevertheless: this psycho-drama is entertaining. And it doesn't always have to be the great literature that sweetens the evening, the weekend or the holiday. Therefore: if you like entertaining entertainment somewhere between thriller and drama, spiced with a lot of local color, you can safely listen to this "stille Schrei". Recommended!
An article by Frankfurt-Tipp
